AMBRYM ISLAND, VANUATU

This monumental Grade Society Figure from Ambrym Island (centrally located in the Vanuatu archipelago), embodies an artistic approach unique to this geographic area and remains in an exceptionally well-preserved condition. The fibrous wood of a fern tree has been carved into this sinuous figure with an impressive presence. Natural green, terracotta, and white pigments are still intact on much of the figure, particularly on the face and chest. This sculpture previously belonged to Nicolai Michoutouchkine (1929-2010), a painter, artist, designer, and collector who lived much of his life in Port Vila, Vanuatu, where he founded the Museum of Oceanic Art.

An impressive group of twenty-two historic figures from Vanuatu, including this one, was exhibited in Calder Crags + Vanuatu Totems from the Collection of Wayne Heathcote in 2019 at Venus over Madison Gallery in New York. These pieces, juxtaposed alongside Alexander Calder’s Crags and Totems, formed a stunning landscape, and highlighted the formal similarities between these Oceanic artworks and the artist’s work. Calder himself collected African and Oceanic art and often exhibited his own works alongside them. The artist belonged to a circle of European and American artists, collectors, intellectuals, and curators who were actively engaging with African and Oceanic art at the time. Among others, he was particularly close with James Johnson Sweeney, the curator of the first major exhibit dedicated to African art at MoMA in 1935.